Mientkiewicz still haunted by 2004 ball

Remember Doug Mientkiewicz? Of course you do. He's the guy from the Red Sox who caught the final out in Boston's 2004 World Series victory and wouldn't give the ball back. Or so the story goes.

Well, Mientkiewicz wishes that's not what he's remembered for in Boston.

Seven years after that wondrous World Series win, he's still haunted by the negative publicity that followed the misunderstanding with the ball. He talked with ESPN's Wayne Drehs recently about the ordeal and expressed regrets on how he handled the situation.

"I'm the running joke," he said. "But I don't want to be remembered by this. I don't want to be known as the guy who stole the ball."

On whether he planned on selling the ball: "No one ever called me and offered me money, and if they did, I would have told them to go 'F' themselves. You can't put a price tag on that. It's baseball history."

On getting threats that targeted his wife: "I know what that ball meant. I know how important it was to people. But it wasn't worth having some nut job hog-tie my wife and put duct tape around her mouth."

On donating the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame: "I remember the day they came to take the ball and I kept thinking to myself, 'Thank God this is over.' "

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Joe McDonald

Joe McDonald, a native Rhode Islander, joined ESPNBoston.com as a Bruins and Red Sox reporter in February 2010. He worked at the Providence Journal for 18 years and covered the Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, PawSox and Providence Bruins. He's a three-time winner of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association's state Sportswriter of the Year for Rhode Island. Follow him on Twitter here.